Sullivan University Social Norms Discussion Responses

PART ONE- What social norms were you expected to conform to when you became a student at your college or university? Are they similar to or different from the norms you grew up with? (MINIMUM ONE PARAGRAPH)

PART TWO- RESPOND TO TWO CLASSMATES

AARON-As unsettling and terrible as they are as far as the stories go, I really enjoyed the quality of writing that came from these pieces. My first question, about “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is related to the authors choice in setting itself. At first, the setting is normal, with just a hint of negative feelings when the Misfit is first introduced into the story. I wonder why the author chose to start this unsettling story just as any other ordinary one. For “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” I would ask the author where the inspiration came from for this story. Between the two, the latter gave me more chills as I read through. In this story, there are 2 settings, one where Connie is a normal teenager who doesn’t really fit in with her family, and the other where she is alone in the face of danger. Arnold Friend is an antongonist that instills fear because even though most things about him are implied, the story gives more than enough information to show Arnold’s true motives. For example, Arnold at first gives off a friendly attitude, doing his best to win Connie’s trust, but reveals that he knows where her family is, and exactly what they are doing to leave her alone as she is. As Arnold gets more frustrated, he reveals more of his true character, and he gets more frightening. I believe this is what makes the reader more intrigued when the author leaves the ending open, letting the readers have their own implications about what happens to Connie after all.

2.CARTER-Question for Each Piece:

“A good man is hard to find”. I think the first and easiest question is why the grandmother? Everyone loves their grandmother, and at times she felt like the villian who was ending this you families life. Nobody likes a villian grandmother! As far as the setting in both stories, I do like this one best out of the two short stories, as the author was able to put you on the highway and feel like you are apart of this group of people. Both short stories had incredible themes and settings but my favorite of the two, is “a good man is hard to find”. I found this short story to be more unsetttling and freightning in nature due to the surrounding of the murder and of the grandma. I think Flannery O’Connor is a better author based on these two short stories. It was more desciptive and used setting better. I felt like this story over “Where have you been?” was scarier, must easier to happen in real life (which is sad), but I found this story to be more frightning. The reason why I found this story scarier and more realisitic was the was the authors used the a self-righteous and manipulative older woman to serve as the lead charactor, and there are just so many people in the world like her, you felt like you reconized her through the text!

“Where have you been?” . There is just so much happeneing in this short story. As Arnold began to show his true colors it probably would have been best to call the police and run on that one! It talks about the sturggles Connie (one of the main charactors) was having and sometiemes just hard to follow and track with. The story overall is very desciptive, talking about Connie’s long brown hair, wearing a pullover jersey etc. The story itself was very desciptive, but it just made for a long read. Connies dialog with Arnold was just a long read compared to “A good man is hard to find”.

ART